It's coming down: Falkirk Council area office block now has a confirmed date with the wrecking ball

Back in summer 2021 the council stated it was “moving forward” with plans to demolish the block in Kerse Road and the premises at the entrance to La Porte Precinct in Grangemouth.

Now it looks like they have done just that with long awaited demolition work scheduled to start on Monday, April 8 and expected to take 15 weeks to complete.

In the last few years organisations and businesses which used the block had been involved in talks with the local authority to find premises to relocate to so the demolition could then take place.

Grangemouth Citizens Advice Bureau, which used a space within the building subsequently moved to a vacant premises in York Arcade on the corner with York Square, further into the middle of the town centre.

Studio IX tattoo studio also relocated to a much larger premises – the long vacant former Chinese restaurant above York Arcade.

Award-winning La Gondola Fish and Chip Shop was the last business to join the mass exodus and is now firmly established further down La Porte Precinct in the former Portonian Tea Rooms.

Back in June 2021 Falkirk Council took the decision, following community consultations in Grangemouth, to allocate funds to “explore opportunities to reconfigure Grangemouth town centre” and “address longstanding vacant buildings” using cash from Scottish Government Town Centre Capital Programme Fund.